Inada Shrine & Princess Kushinada

 

Inada Shrine in what is now Yokota, Okuizumo, enshrines Kushinadahime, in English referred to as Princess Kushinada, or simply Kushinada. Also enshrined here is Susano, who became her husband.

According to the story, the shrine is built upon the spot where Kushinada was born. Nearby is a small pond said to be where she was washed as a new-born, and a grove of bamboo said to have grown from the discarded bamboo blade that cut her umbilical cord.

According to the stories, of which there are multiple variations, she was the 8th daughter of an old couple, Asinazuchi, and Tenazuchi. Her seven sisters had all been sacrificed to a Yamata no Orochi, the 8-forked, 8-headed serpent, in all probability sacrificed to the 8 violent tributaries of the Hi River.

Susano turns up and offers to defeat the Orochi in return for Kushinada as his wife. The story is one of the best known of the Izumo cycle of myths from the classics, and the sword that became one of the three imperial regalia was found in the slain serpents tail. The story is also the best known of the Iwami kagura performances.  A series of videos of the Orochi kagura, and more detail of the story,  can be seen in my earlier posts, Orochi Spectacular, and Synchronized Serpents.

After marrying Kushinada, Susano settled first with her at what is now Suga Shrine and there composed what is considered to be the first Waka poem. Suga shrines are the main shrines for Susano and there are thousands of them around the country. Another shrine connected with Kushinada is Yaegaki Shrine near Matsue. In one version of the story this is where Susano hid her during his battle with Orochi.

In one version of the myth, Okuninushi is the son of Susano and Kushinada. In other versions, he is a later descendant. The most famous shrine in Izumo. Izumo Taisha, is now dedicated to Okuninushi, but for at least its first thousand years it enshrined Susano.

The previous post in this series on Okuizumo was Shinsoji Temple.

Shinsoji Temple Yokota

Shinsoji Temple Yokota

Shinsoji Temple sits on a hillside looking over the town of Yokota on the banks of the Hi River in the Okuizumo region of Shimane.

It does not seem to be a famous temple, and I can actually find almost nothing about it, except we can guess and infer some things.

The buildings and structures have been rebuilt in relatively recent times, and they are substantial, so we can infer that it is a relatively rich temple.

It lies above Igitake Shrine, one of the many shrines in the area connected to the myths of Susano and the Orochi serpent, but between the shrine and the temple is a very large cemetery. There is a good chance that is where the wealth is derived from.

It may also be that the temple looked after and operated the shrine. In historical times there were actually very few Shinto priests, with most shrines being operated by Buddhist priests.

A few things that are known are that the temple belongs to the Soto Zen sect, and the honzon is an Amida.

Igatake Shrine

Igatake Shrine

Igatake Shrine is a fairly large shrine in the middle of Yokota, on the banks of the Hi River in the mountains of Okuizumo.

It is listed in the Izumo Fudoki so has been in existence since at least the 7th century.

The main kami is Isotakeru, the son of Susano who came from Korea with his father Susano who is also enshrined here.

It is right in the middle of the area where Izumo's most famous myth is set, the story of Susano's defeat of the 8-headed serpent Yamata no Orochi.

Nearby is Onigami Shrine, one site said to be where Susano descended to Izumo. Also nearby, and where I head to next, is Inada Shrine, devoted to Kushinada, the maiden rescued from the Orochi who became Susano's wife.

The shrine was destroyed during the Warring States Period and rebuilt later. The current buildings are in Izumo Zukuri style and include the iconic fat shimenawa of the region.

Kakuro Tatara Museum

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Tatara are the traditional type of forge used to smelt iron in historical Japan. They used charcoal and iron sand rather than coal and iron ore.

The first iron used in Japan was all imported from the Korean countries on the peninsula, which begs the question what they paid for this fundamental resource. One historian suggests mercenaries which would make sense of the Japanese military involvement on the peninsula in ancient times.

Later iron sand was discovered and so domestic production of iron began using tatara forges, the technique also having been introduced from the Asian mainland.

The Chugoku mountains and especially the Okuizumo area became the centre of iron and steel production for ancient Japan until the late 19th century when the more efficient western techniques of iron production using coal and ore were introduced.

This former tatara high up in the Chugoku mountains was actually not built until the 1930's. It was built next to an Edo period tatara that closed down in 1911. It is a kind of hybrid forge, utilizing a mix of traditional and modern techniques. It is close to where the Sakurai family, a high-ranking samurai family that controlled some of the iron production in the region.

The museum is free to enter and has plenty of information, in Japanese, about the technology as well as numerous mannequins showing scenes..... The bellows were operated by water power.

During the 1930's the US began to apply sanctions against Japan because of the invasion of China.... these sanctions eventually included all export of iron and scrap iron to Japan, which suggests that this tatara was created to improve the situation for Japan. It ceased operating in 1945.

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Onigami Shrine Another Origin of Susano

Onigami Shrine

Yjos large rock in front of Onigami Shrine in Okuizumo is called Iwafune Daimyojin, and is said to be the stone boat used by Susano and his son Isotakeru to sail from Shiragi on the Korean mainland. If this sounds familiar, I refer you to an earlier post on Karashima Island down the coast in Iwami, which has a similar version of the myth.

Behind the rock is Onigami Shrine, not surprisingly enshrining Susano-o and Isotakeru. On the hill behind the shrine is said to be the tomb of Isotakeru.

Not far from here is Inada Shrine, dedicated to the "princss# that Susano saves from the fearsome 8-headed serpent Yamat no Orochi. A little further downstream is a shrine dedicated to her parents, and several spots on the river are said to be the lair of Orochi.

One of my first long walks in Shimane was a three day walk down the Hi Rover to Izumo Taisha in  which I hunted out sites connected to the Susano stories, though Ongami Shrine was a little too far from the river for me to visit.

If you draw a line roughly West from here to the shrines around Karashima Island, and another line North to where Matsue now sits, then in the land between those two lines are all the major shrines to Susano..... Susa, Suga, Yaegaki, Hinomisaki, and of course Izumo Taisha, which switched from Susano to Okuninushi just over 400 years ago. There are also a whole slew of smaller, mountain shrines dedicated to Susano, like Karakama Shrine.

The Yamato-centric national myths usually portray Susano as a bad boy kicked out of heaven for his offenses, and never mention his arrival in Japan from Korea. Around here though he is seen as a Culture Hero who brought things from Korea. Okuizumo is famous as the home of swordmaking and early steel and iron production. Karakama Shrine translates as Korean Forge Shrine, and suggests that iron production was introduced from Korea...... which historians say is how it happened...

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Kingenji Temple

金源寺

Kingenji is a very small temple in a remore location, high up in the Okuizumo area of the Chugoku mountains.

The small main hall is thatched and is quite picturesque. It is said to have been established around 1300, and is currently a Nichiren sect temple.

However, what brings visitors is the large gingko tree in front. Probably about 300 years old, in the Autumn its golden leaves cover the thatched roof and carpets the ground in front of the temple..

A rice paddy immediately in front of the temple is flooded in October, and so the reflection doubles the attractiveness.

In recent years the scene has been illuminated at night.

I visited in late November, and at this elevation, the autumn colors had passed and the paddy had been drained, but there were a few vestiges of color.....

Koinobori

Itohara Residence

 

The Itohara were a family of high-ranking samurai who served the Matsue Domain. They moved into the Okuizumo area in the Chugoku Mountains in what is now Shimane in the early 17th century. They have occupied the site of their current home since the end of the 18th century.

The Itohara were one of a group of samurai families that controlled the production of iron in the region.

The current residence was built in the early 20th century but was built in a traditional style. The family still lives in the house so it is not open to the public, but the garden is and so the interior of the house can be glimpsed.

The home has 40 rooms and covers more than 16,000 square meters, so here you can literally see just glimpses.

The main formal garden is viewable from many rooms, and I posted pictures of it before.

Adjacent to the house is the Itohara Memorial Museum that has many displays about the historical production of iron, but also family heirlooms like weapons, armour, tea ceremony utensils, clothing etc.

The closest station is Yokota on the JR Kisuki Line, accessible using the Orochi Tourist Train.

Itohara Memorial Museum

Itohara Memorial Museum

The Itohara were a family of high-ranking samurai in the service of the Matsue Domain during the Edo Period. Their base was in the mountains of Okuizumo where they were one of several samurai families that controlled the production, and export, of iron.

The museum at their property near Yokota display many of their artworks, everyday objects, and especially tea ceremony paraphernalia, armor, swords etc as befitting a high-ranking samurai family, but is mostly concerned with the historical production of iron.

Japan had very little iron-ore, but some areas, like here in Okuizumo, were rich in iron-sand, and a special type of forge technology was used to process the sand into iron and steel called a tatara forge.

Part of the output of a tatara forge is a kind of iron called tamahagane in Japanese. This is a vital ingredient in a true Japanese sword and cannot be produced by modern methods, so one single tatra forge is still in operation here in Okuizumo that produces all the tamahagane for swordsmiths.

There is a lot of material on display about historical tatara and such, and quite a lot of samurai possessions and artworks, kimonos etc, however very little info is in English.

The Itohara estate is a few miles from Izumo-Yokota Station on the JR Kisuki Line. Other related posts about Okuizumo can be found by clicking this link.

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